Rio Olympics silver medalist PV Sindhu lauded Saina Nehwal for winning women's singles badminton bronze at the ongoing Asian Games, insisting that her senior compatriot played well in the semi-final.
Quite a few badminton fans in the country would have rooted for an all-Indian women's singles final but it wasn't meant to be as Nehwal went down in straight sets to world number Tai Tzu Ying in the first semi-final.
Notably, the two shuttlers had met in the Commonwealth Games final earlier this year and Saina stunned her higher-ranked opponent in straight games.
In Jakarta, Saina was fighting hard but Tai managed to win the important points and put pressure on the London Olympic bronze medalist. In 36 minutes, the Chinese Taipei shuttler won the semi-final 21-17, 21-14 and book a place in the gold medal match.
"She [Saina] lost but she played well. I could not see the entire match but she played well in the second set. I was hoping to meet her in the final," Sidhu told the Press Trust of India.
Sindhu, on the other hand, took 66 minutes and three games to beat world number two Akane Yamaguchi of Japan. After dominating the first game, Sindhu was cruising to a straight-game win before the pint-sized Japanese shuttler fought back and forced a decider.
Long rallies were a common fixture in the tie but Sindhu managed to hold on and run Yamaguchi tired in the deciding game, which was head one way after the break.
Sindhu insisted that she had to battle hard despite the scoreline not suggesting the tightly-fought nature of the second semi-final.
"There was a big lead but no point was easy. The scoreline doesn't suggest that but I had to fight hard for every point," Sindhu said.
"There were long rallies. She did not give up despite trailing. She was also a bit lucky with the net chords. At one point, I was like this is happening a lot but you can't do much about these things."
Hoping to go all the way tomorrow: Sindhu
Sindhu conceded she is expecting a tough final on Tuesday against the world number one.
The Hyderabad shuttler has already been stretched to the distance thrice in the ongoing tournament, including her wobbly first-round match against unseeded Vu Thi Trang of Vietnam.
Sindhu though, maintained that the first-round scare didn't deter her confidence but only helped her improve over the course of the last few days.
"I never thought negative for a moment. I was always thinking about improving with each match. It is a big competition and there are no easy matches. Hope to go all the way tomorrow," Sindhu added.
